


Finale

by Mama Robotnik (TheGreedler)



Category: Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet and Clank
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6951172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreedler/pseuds/Mama%20Robotnik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time waits for no one.</p>
<p>Not even the one who saved it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finale

**_It was 20 hours after Azimuth’s death._ **

The Orvus Chamber was cleared up. It looked like a universe ending fight had never even taken place here. They had to drag you out in order to finish cleaning. You couldn’t move. You hovered over the elder Lombax’s body for 2 hours. Clank had given up trying to rouse you from your trance and had simply instructed the Zoni to work around you.

The smell of charred fur and the last thing he ever told you were all you could focus on. All you could do was stare at him, holding tightly onto the pocket watch he treasured dearly. Moving it over your fingers and feeling the grooves of the cover. _‘Take care of yourself, Ratchet._ ’ Those four words played over and over in your head. The look of utter sorrow in his eyes. In his own way, he had apologized to you.

The only other being in the universe that looked like you.

“I forgive you…”

Aphelion was silent. She knew you weren’t talking to her.

It was 20 hours after Azimuth’s death.

\--

**_It was two days after Azimuth’s death._ **

“Ratchet! Oh you don’t know how good it is to see you! I’ve missed you!”

“I missed you too Sasha. There’s a lot I have to tell you, huh?”

“…I’ll clear my agenda for today. I have a feeling I’m in for a roller coaster ride of emotions.”

Sector Four in Planet Room Fastoon. A specially prepared coffin laid on one side of the room of the small room, while you sat in the doorway. Light filtered in from the planet projection and painted everything a soft blue.

It had been too long since you last spoke to Sasha. You were afraid she would never want to speak to you again. You were so busy trying to find Clank that you forgot to keep in contact with her. But you spoke adamantly about her to Azimuth. He was happy that you had found someone to love. You were eager to get the two of them to meet. To introduce Azimuth as the family you were always without.

“He saved us all. If it wasn’t for him…we’d never get to see each other again.”

“Ratchet…I’m so sorry. For everything. If I had known…I would’ve been at your side through all of this.”

“It’s my fault, I didn’t call you or let you know anything…”

“I kinda figured you and Clank would be really busy. I had-”

“Sasha, I…I didn’t..I get to tell him he redeemed himself. He gave up his _life_ for me, and I can’t even tell him he’s forgiven.”

Sasha’s image disappeared from the comlink. You heard her telling someone to clear her calendar for the month. Your eyes drifted over to Alister’s coffin. Lombax engravings and beautiful amber gemstones decorated the exterior. Talywn had commissioned it for you after learning what happened. It had his title written in the Lombax’s language, a collaborative effort between the two of you with a little help from Qwark, who knew the language better than the both of you.

“Ratchet?”

“Yeah?” Your eyes never left Azimuth. You watched the light of Fastoon mix with the amber gemstones. You were tired.

“You said you and Clank were going to bury General Azimuth on your home planet, correct? I’ll have Clank send me the coordinates for the Polaris galaxy and Fastoon. The Phoenix was recently equipped with a warp drive. I’ll try and get there as fast as I can.”

“Okay.”

“Please try and get some sleep Ratchet. I can see from here that you look like you haven’t slept in days. I love you.”

Your eyes turned back to the comlink. You gave her a small smile.

“I love you too Sasha.”

“Good night.”

She ended the transmission and you turned back to Azimuth. It was night on Fastoon, colour no longer filled the room. It was quiet again, apart from the soft hum from the many machines working throughout the Clock.

“I wish you could see her.”

It was two days and five hours after Azimuth’s death.

\--

**_It was four days after Azimuth’s death._ **

“And henceforth, by decree of the Galactic President, the rebel known as Alister Azimuth is resolved of all his crimes. His title and rank have been reinstated and is hereby known as General Alister Azimuth, Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard and Elder Councilman for the Centre of Advanced Lombax Research. Let no one speak ill of this man. He shall forever be in our history books as our saviour. He will be heralded as a hero and will forever remain as such in the Hall of Heroes in Meridian City. He was a good man, and a father figure. I’m thankful I got to know him through your stories Ratchet.”

Two hours later and Sasha found you holed up in Azimuth’s ship. She told you she was leaving to make her announcement about Azimuth being reinstated public to every galaxy, and she would return in a day or two. You said nothing while she talked to you, simply staring out of the cockpit. You saw her walking away when something urged you to go stop her.

“Sasha, wait!”

She barely had time to fully turn back to face the ship before you were gathering her up in your arms. You felt the tiny body under yours tense a bit, but eagerly returned the embrace. She was so warm, a drastic change from the cold of Clank’s body, and Azimuth’s refusal to be touched in any way. Sasha bumped her nose into yours, a sign of affection between the two of you and pulled away slightly from you.

“You’re welcome Ratchet. It was the least I could do.”

“Sasha I-…what’s wrong with me?”

She gave you a slightly puzzled look.

“I haven’t cried at all since Alister died. I don’t even feel sad. I just feel…”

“Empty?” Sasha finished for you. You looked away from her and laid your forehead on hers, exhausted from the days events and the swirl of emotions that came with it.

“Yeah. Empty. Does that make me a bad person?”

“It doesn’t Ratchet. It just means you miss him. People mourn the loss of others in different ways.” You felt her hand start to lightly scratch under your ear as she talked to you. You felt your tail start to wag and the rumbling of a purr starting. “Some people cry. Some people celebrate that person’s life with laughter. Some people feel nothing at all. It’s okay not to cry. You did all of this for him Ratchet. I know he meant a lot to you.”

She kept talking to you, releasing all that built up tension and anxiety you didn’t know you had with the ear massage and her voice. You don’t know when, but eventually you had hover-booted the both of you back into Alister’s ship. You both just lied there, talking to each other, catching up with the three years you were apart. She said she hadn’t seen a genuine smile on your face in days.

It was four days after Azimuth’s death.

 --

**_It was 3 weeks after Azimuth’s death._ **

_“We’ve arrived at the Great Clock. Beginning landing procedures now.”_

Clank unbuckled his safety belt and looked out Aphelion’s cockpit. There was Sigmund, awaiting your arrival just like he said he would. The Senior Caretaker began waving enthusiastically while the ship landed. A couple of Zoni flew up to him and nabbed the Chronoscepter he held, flying away and laughing at him. Sigmund screamed and chased after them. You eyed your giggling companion.

“Did you tell the Zoni to distract Sigmund so we could get some privacy?”

“Heheheh, maybe.”

You shook your head and jumped out of the ship, Clank following suit. You followed him back into the Orvus Chamber and made a beeline for Azimuth’s wrench. It had become an emergency makeshift lever, and ended up staying that way. No one knew if removing it was dangerous or not. So there it stayed. A testament to the elder Lombax’s sacrifice.  You felt along the grooves and sighed.

“Are you sure you do not need my assistance Ratchet? Sigmund and I can always do this at another time.” Clank asked.  You turned to face him and smiled, hitching your own wrench on your shoulder and smiling.

“I’m sure buddy. Besides I have Sasha to help me figure out whatever nerd talk I run into. And…I have Qwark?”

You both looked at each other exasperated at the thought of the green-clad hero joining you on your adventure.

“Why IS Captain Qwark going with you anyway? I thought he was looking for Dr. Nefarious?” Clank asked, obviously looking for a reason to keep Qwark in another part of the galaxy and nowhere near you. You just shrugged.

“He said he searched far and wide and couldn’t find a trace of them, so he figured he’d help us and translate any Lombax writings we come across trying to look for Angela.”

“Ah…well…I hope he doesn’t cause too much trouble for the both of you. I will join you as soon as I am done here.”

“Take all the time you need buddy. There’s seriously no rush. I’ll miss you though.”

Clank stuck out his arm, ready to shake your hand and see you on your way. You grabbed him up in a tight hug instead. After three years apart and a desperate search to find him, a simple handshake between the two of you just didn’t feel right. You felt Clank’s little arms try to hug you back as best he could.

“I will miss you too Ratchet.”

The two of you separated and you went on your way back to Aphelion. Sasha had messaged you saying that Qwark was on his way to the Presidential compound and that she would be arriving shortly. You hopped into Aphelion and took off, knowing full well that if you looked at the entrance of the Orvus Chamber too long you’d be right back in the room, next to Azimuth’s wrench.

You still mourned his loss in your own way. You didn’t cry, you never did cry when you lost someone close to you, now that you thought about it. But finding Angela and figuring out some way to get back to the other Lombaxes was one way you knew you could payback Azimuth for all he had done for you. You wanted to let them know everything he had been through and how he had saved the universe and maybe their dimension as well.

Two hours into your flight back to the Solana galaxy, Aphelion’s voice crackled to life, startling you out of your sleep. When did you even fall asleep?

“ _We are 30 minutes away from Planet Fastoon. Would you like to land?”_  

You saw the bright star that signaled Fastoon’s location. You had Azimuth locate it for you on star charts and maps, find it hidden among billions of other planets during quiet nights on Torren IV, just so you knew how to find it if you were ever lost or in trouble. Your heart skipped a beat and you tried to clear your head. You weren’t lost. You weren’t in trouble. You didn’t need a reason to keep yourself holed up in the Court of Azimuth for a week straight when you had to find Angela.

“No Aphelion. As soon we reach Terachnos’ orbit, we need to warp to Florana. From there, we can meet up with Sasha and Qwark.”

_“Understood.”_

It was three weeks after Azimuth’s death.

You were going to do right by him.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have a couple of ideas floating about in my head to wrap this up, but I probably won’t get around to really writing that until I figure out how to approach it. But I hope you all enjoyed this!


End file.
